Benjamin Peter (at Revel), edited by Gauthier Delomez 7:33 p.m., February 28, 2023

The historic drought that France is experiencing worries farmers, and also the mayors of certain municipalities.

This is particularly the case for towns connected to the Canal du Midi, whose reservoirs used to supply it are only 55% full according to the Waterways of France.

Another victim of winter drought.

While the month of February should be the driest since 1959, the company Voies navigables de France (VNF) has decided "to postpone the complete replenishment of certain sections" of the Canal du Midi until March 15 in order to restore as much as possible water reserves.

The objective is to fill in a fortnight the reaches, the sections between two locks, hoping that it will rain.

A worrying situation

It must be said that the situation is worrying: the latest figures noted by Élodie Dufeu, of the Waterways of France, show that the reservoirs used to supply the canal are only 55% full.

"In an average year, they should be at 85%, so we have much lower reserves," she shares at the microphone of Europe 1.

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The deputy territorial director of VNF recalls that the south-west of the country experienced a very dry and very hot summer.

It was therefore necessary to dip into the reserves.

"The very dry winter does not allow us to fill our reservoir dams, hence the difficulty we have today," she continues.

One solution could be to fill the reaches more quickly, "but we would pump into the reserves, which could be detrimental for the end of the season. We prefer to anticipate", insists Élodie Dufeu.

Concerns for access to drinking water

The mayor of Revel in Haute-Garonne, Laurent Hourquet, is concerned by this drying up of the Canal du Midi.

He receives in his office the levels of the dams which supply his commune, and the surplus of which is used to fill the canal.

"This is the lowest point we have had since the history of these curves," he relates to Europe 1. "You have seen how it has to go up to find the level it should have (...). If it continues to do this weather, I am worried, and not only for tourism", affirms the mayor.

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Laurent Hourquet is particularly worried about irrigation, drinking water, in order to secure access to water for the 200,000 inhabitants who depend on it.

The Voies navigables de France company has therefore also decided to direct 50% of the water it captures upstream to supply the canal to the drinking water reserves.